Prestige Class: Battlepriest of Moradin

[Raesene Andu]

First prestige class for comments/suggestions

Note: I haven't created any of these prestige classes myself, they were all submitted since the start of the project.

[The incredible, edible Phil]

While the class is similar to warpriest (in Complete divine) it does have much merit. I really like the class but feel that it is open-ended enough that with a few slight modifications can become a "generic" war priest PrC that could apply for all deities.

Here are a few suggestions to come about that:


Requirements:

Proficiency in all martial weapons.
Base Attack Bonus: Same as suggested
Skills: Same as suggested
Feats: Battle Caster, Combat Casting, Great Leader, Leadership
Spells: Same as suggested
Special: Must have Belinik, Cuiraécen, Haelyn, [the goblin deity], or Moradin as patron deity.


Class skills: Same as suggested

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: : Should not give anything additional as it might not be appropriate for Vos.

Bonus Domain: The Prestige class doesn't cover the possibility that the character already has access to the bonus domains. I would suggest granting the character a choice from the following list: Destruction, Protection, Strength, or War.

Everything else is perfect.

[RaspK_FOG]

While what you say, Phil, about how open-ended the class is is quite true, I believe that the class might benefit more from allowing access to Haelyn and Moradin only, as they are the only two really noble warrior deities (in the sense of tactically prepared and employed battle).

[The incredible, edible Phil]

While the other gods might not be as "noble" as Haelyn or Moradin, it is safe to assume they employ strategy and tactics just that their perspective of war is different.

For example, the goblin generals might see their armies as expendable to a certain degree and their tactics and strategies to focus on overpowering and outnumbering the opposition because they can. Vos, on the other hand, do not have that luxury nor the favorable conditions to be a wealthy feudal society much like Anuire so their perspective has been altered to adapt to their set of circumstances. But the latter appear to be far more prone to have their leaders join the fray.

[Osprey]

I would add Kartathok (the Orog deity) in addition to Moradin and Haelyn as the best-suited deities for a War Priest PrC. I agree that Belinik and Cuiraecen are unlikely to have PrC's that focus on the character's unit-suporting abilities on the battlefield. Instead they should have PrC's that enhance their personal abilities to act as champions of their people and deities.

I actually made up a War Priest PrC for my own BR campaign - it's similar but differs from this one, but I like Athos' PrC pretty well, too. ;)

I do like the choices for bonus domains, though - it acts like a limited selection of bonus feats (Extra Domain) appropriate to a Warpriest. I always hated the Glory domain being automatic for Warpiests out of Complete Divine, it assumes that all war priests specialize in battling the undead. Silly.

Osprey

[RaspK_FOG]

Also Karthatok; I forgot to mention him for some reason (I seem to be doing this a lot the last few days... stress, I guess).

[Osprey]

Ooops, just realized a mistake I made: I was meaning Torazan as patron god of the orogs, not Kartathok (who is patron of Cerilian goblins). My bad.

[RaspK_FOG]

Not to worry: the funny thing is that I was worried whether Karthatok was the goblin deity or not, yet still I did not look it up and went on... So, I think we both agree that Haelyn, Moradin, and Torazan are good choices for such a prestige class.

[Athos69]

As creator of the class, I don't feel that Torazan is a good choice for this class. I envisioned this class intially as one of the few ways that the Dwarves had managed to counter the higher breeding rate of the Orogs

I had intended this class to be Dwarven only, to give them something unique, but if the powers that be want to make it open to Haelyn, I can't come up with a cogent argument against it.

-Mike/Athos

[Athos69]

Requirements:

Proficiency in all martial weapons.
Base Attack Bonus: Same as suggested
Skills: Same as suggested
Feats: Battle Caster, Combat Casting, Great Leader, Leadership
Spells: Same as suggested

Regarding the feats you suggested Phil...

Battlecaster would require a Cleric to be at least 5th level, leaving it for the 6th level slot or higher. Great Leader's skill requirements make it a 6th or higher feat, as does Leadership unless there are 2 levels of Noble in there.

This means that a pure Cleric would only be able to take this at 13th level....

-Mike / Athos

[The incredible, edible Phil]

An excellent point. Then we should remove Leadership or great Leader. I'm inclined to remove the former as a requirement.

[Athos69]

If we take out the Great Leader requirement, then lso keep in mind that Battle Caster is no longer necessary, since it is granted when the character gains the PrCl in the first level (yes, I know -- I mis-labeled it 'Battlemagic'. My bad.)

This makes it possible for a Clr5/Ftr1 to get this as their 7th level class.

-Mike / Athos

[Osprey]

Requirements:

Proficiency in all martial weapons.
Base Attack Bonus: Same as suggested
Skills: Same as suggested
Feats: Battle Caster, Combat Casting, Great Leader, Leadership
Spells: Same as suggested

I don't agree with requiring proficiency with all martial weapons. This then forces there to be at least one fighter, ranger, or paladin level. If you make the Base Attack Bonus the primary minimum level requirement, then the class can still be set to favor a fighter/cleric over a pure cleric in terms of accessing the class at an earlier level.

Thematically I would prefer a battlepriest to be focused in combat with a favored weapon rather than a broad array of weaponry. Why would this be a real requirement to become a battlepriest?

What does it take for a dwarven warrior priest to have the "right stuff?" I imagine a dwarven battlepriest should be tough enough to take a hard beating, devout enough to channel strong divine spells, and be able to hold his own in a melee.

Here's Mike's base requirements:

Race: Dwarf (Karamhul)
Base Attack Bonus: +6.
Skills: Lead: 5 ranks.
Warcraft: 5 ranks.
Concentration: 5 ranks.
Feats: Combat Casting, Endurance, Leadership.
Spells: Ability to cast 2nd level Divine spells.
Special: Must have Moradin as a patron deity.

These have gotten pretty thoroughly hashed out on the BRCS forums, and I think they do a decent job of meeting the conceptual guidelines above. The only lthing I would care to change at this point would be to simply drop the Leadership requirement - seems to me that this is something that might result after becoming a Battlepriest, rather than it being a prerequisite.

A few other possibilities for the class features:
Righteous Fury: this might be interesting to tweak a bit. What if (like many of the newer divine feats) this is a channeled power, using up one of the battlepriest's turn attempts for the day? On the battlefield this could be a free action, adding +3 to the Hero Unit's EL for 1 turn.

But what is this power from a story and tactical perspective? I imagine it's a miraculous channeling of divine wrath - this could be a mass heroism effect, mass rage. (duration: 1 minute per class level?)


Hmmm...another possibility is to stagger the ability's effects...perhaps granting +1 EL per 3 class levels (+2 at 6th, +3 at 9th). At 9th the effects might be a greater heroism or rage at the tactical level.

Bump up Heal Unit (since it is only 1/day) to require 2 turning attempts to heal 2 hits to the bp's unit.
This is a 7th level Batlepriest class feature, it should be strong.

Will of Moradin could also have tactical effects. Likewise with Iron Resolve.


Some of my thoughts on the class.
Osprey